Thursday, May 19, 2011

Customer Story

This week's customer story comes all the way from the great state of Kansas.Wichita to be exact. Last Thursday I received a call from one of my regular customers who's wife and daughter were coming to New York in early June and wanted to see three shows while they were here. Having worked with him many times over the years I knew where he liked to sit. Care to take a guess? Rear Mezzanine. Just kidding. Give up? Premium seating of course. Let me guess. You've never heard of it right?

Believe it or not but the term "Premium Seating" has only been around since the Spring of 2001 when The Producers opened to rave reviews. When that happened the producers of the show decided to offer seats at a higher rate in order to prevent scalpers from buying up all the tickets. Makes sense to me. Since then all Broadway shows are now offering these type of seats. Anyway back to my story. Since I knew the type of seats he wanted I needed to find out what they wanted to see. His first choice was The Lion King. Now while the show has been around for a number of years it is still one of Broadway's most popular shows.

Therefore I knew I would have no problem getting him the type of seats he wanted. Sure enough I was able to get him excellent seats in the fifth row of the Orchestra. Not only that but they were dead center. Now that's what I call Premium seating. His next pick was the new revival of Anything Goes. Now unlike every other show on Broadway Anything Goes does not sell Premium seats. Why you ask? Because it is produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company which is a non-for profit. Therefore they like Lincoln Center(War Horse) only sell regular priced tickets.

After checking availability for him I was not able to find the type of seats that he likes. Therefore I had to go to the secondary market to purchase them. Now being a broker myself there are times when I have to go thru another ticket service when I don't have the tickets myself. Better to get my customers what they want then to have to tell them "Sold Out". Trust me my friends. Those are two words I don't like to use. Anyway after calling around to a few different companies I was able to find him seats in Row M of the Orchestra in the center. Two shows down. One to go.

Care to guess what he picked for his final show? Mary Poppins. Even though his wife had already seen the show when it opened several years ago his daughter had never seen it. Now even though I knew where he liked to sit I decided to suggest some alternative seating. Having seen the show I can honestly tell you that the better seating is not in the first ten rows in the Orchestra. The better seating is actually in the Front Mezzanine.

Not only is it a great view of the stage but Mary Poppins actually flies into the Mezzanine during the show. Plus because the show has been playing for a number of years I knew that not only would I be able to get him excellent seats but at below face value. Sure enough I got him in the fourth row center of the Front Mezzanine and at a price that was even lower than he was expecting. Another satisfied customer. Will you be next?